Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-10-14
CROOKED JOHN.

their observations regret to say, were not
for ears polite. Col Won Craven, who,
with his sou Harold, was now the only bearer
of the name, was understood to have been q
lady killer in his day When his dignity
thawed out over glass of toddy he had
been known to make allusion to his ad
ventures in that line, and when the
Judge gave him dig in the ribs and called
him gay old boy he did not resent it
Harold. the colonel, son, was a regular
dare devil They called him the girls Har-
old" because he had such taking way with
the women Nobody could hold candle to
him on the dancing floor, and the colonel
rubbed his hands and chuckled when he saw
him take to love making as duck does to
water. All. yes, he made havoc in the hearts
Of the girls i'll those days-mere lad he
was.
Then it was that one fine day in the spring
there was log Jam in the river The water
rose several feet an hour, and there was
roar in the air of a hundred chart
OTIS Two men had gone to the bot
tom in trying to break the jam, and it
seemed sure death for the third and the fourth
The cataract Numbered below, ami the yell
low foam flew high over the tree tops. The
spray blew like drenching rain into the
faces Of the thousand people who stood with
their hearts In their Threats, trembling for
their homes Then in the midst of the terror
a cheer went up. nobody knew why 1t was
lad of 10 who came sauntering through the
throng. 1t was the girls who cheered him
Harold" cried they Harold! He can
break the log janl He can save the valleyr
They had scarcely uttered the cry when the
boy had snatched an ak from somebody and
run into the middle OF the river With the
agility of squirrel he jumped from log tc
log, and enveloped i'll a cloud OF spray
climbed the great heap of lumber at the
brink of the cataract which damned the
stream. His quick eye detected in an instant
where the log was that held the heap One
two, three swift strokeS-the heap began to
creak He flung the AK away and bounded
with daring leaps i'll the direction of the
shore. But the mass was now moving. He
stumbled-fell between two logs, scrambled
up again, fell again, and God knows what
happened but i'll minute he was pulled out
with boat hook, unconscious and hopeiesSly
injured.
They sang his praises for day and then
forgot him "Brave Harold, noble Harold
said the young girls. but he was no longer
the hero of the balls he made no more havoc
In maiden hearts.
His father sent him to watering place in
France, Travelled With him from Carlsbad to
Wiesbaden and from Wiesbaden to the Pyre
nees, and wasted the last remnant OF his fort
une consulting famous physicians yet Har
old was and remained cripple, 1t nearly
broke the old mans heart when his beautiful
boy came home pale and hollow eyed, and
with that misshapen form
my poor boy" he would say, in voice
full of yearning pity, holding out his arm tc
the cripple and then suddenly as the boy
rushed toward him, he would cry in agony
7'9o away from me, child
It was terrible to Harold to be treated thus
by his father But it was still more terrible
when his father was gone and he had not a
soul in the world who cared for him, They
said in The valley that it was his sons twisted
form that killed the colonel He was never
the man be had been from the day he saw the
deformity
When his father was dead Haroid's first
thought was to 90 to America, but when the
estate was settled 1t was found that the colo
mel had left Just enough to pay for his burial
His son was penniess and had to stay where
he was He was invited around to dinner
Dy us iabisF : oii iI-tnus. anu lne iudke anu
the sheriff OCCASIONALLY sent MN sumo IUp9
ahe' Jus' % Neep nm ~" o'ai ing nus
ne Aeps oh ioi Jedi u"'ii nc san "a pei
celNe that ne was "edi ihe 'u' ni' "ei0oii'e
ms sta'eiS name 9ee,i'ei ''' io'sei '" ut
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IL
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Al can't think what has become of grand
mother she said. after awhile. ..sbe told me
to sit here till che came back.
And won't YOU allow me to keen YOU com
pauy till she returnsn
She did not answer, but sat again leaning
backward with her hands folded in her lap
"Your voice is pleasant she said, with
strange abrup,ness al think YOU are a good
man"
Those words brought the tears INTO his ewes
they were the SrSt kind words he had heard
since hi. father ,ii,,.. 40, lated nlInselt at
the girls feet and chatted about the birds, the
crons md the tiShino H. laarn..d that enc